Gofirstclass
Well-Known Member
Last Thursday was supposed to be the day I was to do the sea trial on the 550 after the yard had finished recommissioning it. I talked with the yard owner Wednesday and he thought they would probably launch it around 10:00 Thursday morning.
I got up at 0430 Thursday and drove 3.5 hours to Portland to make sure I would be there to photo the launch. When I got there I quickly realized there was still too much to do to have a 10:00 launch.
The boat has Hynautic Shifting and Throttle shifters and they were disconnected when the flybridge was removed for transport. They were still working on bleeding the air out of the shifters and throttles, bracing up the extended swm deck and doing a bunch of other things. The swim ladder that we had selected was a 4-step that would mount underneath the swim deck. When they started assembling it the ladder proved to be more of a hassle to use than we expected. We elected to go with a more standard 3-step ladder of a more traditional design, and that had to be mounted...
There were six or seven guys working on the boat and, while I could see progress being made we were not going to make 10:00 a launch at 10:00.
At 1:30 they did bring up the travel lift and pick the boat up off the jack stands. That allowed them to finish the bottom paint where the jack stands had been...
Here's one of the props after both props and shafts were balanced and trued...
They got all the jack stands, wood blocks and all the other stuff that had been underneath the boat moved away and finally about 4:00 they started moving the boat to launch it...
Finally she's back in the water again.
By the end of the day Thursday it was apparent we were not going to do a sea trial. They were running into problems getting the throttles and shifters bled and the swim ladder had not been mounted yet.
Everyone stopped around 6:00 for the day and we got together again the following morning. I did get to spend my first night on the boat, enjoyed a cold beverage or two, and continued putting stuff away and getting the interior and exterior of the boat cleaned up a bit.
Friday morning the work started early and the guys worked their butts off to get it done before the end of the day so we could sea trial it.
Finally about 4:00 Friday we thought everything was done and we were ready for a ride. I backed the boat out from the dock using the shifters and headed down the channel. When I got there I realized I couldn't turn the boat. The wheel spun freely bit it had almost no effect on turning the boat.
Oops, they forgot to bleed the Hynautic steering. We got that fixed by adding ATF fluid to the reservoir and continued on. When we were getting up on plane the extended swim deck went underwater. That's not something they could have predicted without doing the sea trial, but we realized it woudn't work as it was. So back to the docks.
By that time (6:00) we were all pretty disappointed and frustrated. The yard manager and I agreed it was best to halt what we were doing, give us all some time to calm down a bit so we could clearly analyze what was needed to fix the problem with the swim deck. It's going to take a redesign of the deck which will include shortening it and possibly putting a sheet of stainless beneath it that will extend from the hull to the end of the swim deck.
At this point the new KVH Satellite TV system is installed and working. It and the radar have been mounted on a stand that puts the radar ahead of and below the Sat Dome. The upper bimini is installed, the aft bimini that will cover the cockpit is being built and will be installed this week.
Here's what she looks like with the upper bimini installed and the screens on. That front screen has some stains so I'm having a new one made to replace it.
At this point we don't have a time frame to the next sea trail. They will haul the boat out today and it could be several days before they get the swim deck redesigned.
While I was disapointed and frustrated about it not being done on schedule I told the yard manager I'd much rather have it fixred right than have it fixed on schedule.
I got up at 0430 Thursday and drove 3.5 hours to Portland to make sure I would be there to photo the launch. When I got there I quickly realized there was still too much to do to have a 10:00 launch.
The boat has Hynautic Shifting and Throttle shifters and they were disconnected when the flybridge was removed for transport. They were still working on bleeding the air out of the shifters and throttles, bracing up the extended swm deck and doing a bunch of other things. The swim ladder that we had selected was a 4-step that would mount underneath the swim deck. When they started assembling it the ladder proved to be more of a hassle to use than we expected. We elected to go with a more standard 3-step ladder of a more traditional design, and that had to be mounted...
There were six or seven guys working on the boat and, while I could see progress being made we were not going to make 10:00 a launch at 10:00.
At 1:30 they did bring up the travel lift and pick the boat up off the jack stands. That allowed them to finish the bottom paint where the jack stands had been...
Here's one of the props after both props and shafts were balanced and trued...
They got all the jack stands, wood blocks and all the other stuff that had been underneath the boat moved away and finally about 4:00 they started moving the boat to launch it...
Finally she's back in the water again.
By the end of the day Thursday it was apparent we were not going to do a sea trial. They were running into problems getting the throttles and shifters bled and the swim ladder had not been mounted yet.
Everyone stopped around 6:00 for the day and we got together again the following morning. I did get to spend my first night on the boat, enjoyed a cold beverage or two, and continued putting stuff away and getting the interior and exterior of the boat cleaned up a bit.
Friday morning the work started early and the guys worked their butts off to get it done before the end of the day so we could sea trial it.
Finally about 4:00 Friday we thought everything was done and we were ready for a ride. I backed the boat out from the dock using the shifters and headed down the channel. When I got there I realized I couldn't turn the boat. The wheel spun freely bit it had almost no effect on turning the boat.
Oops, they forgot to bleed the Hynautic steering. We got that fixed by adding ATF fluid to the reservoir and continued on. When we were getting up on plane the extended swim deck went underwater. That's not something they could have predicted without doing the sea trial, but we realized it woudn't work as it was. So back to the docks.
By that time (6:00) we were all pretty disappointed and frustrated. The yard manager and I agreed it was best to halt what we were doing, give us all some time to calm down a bit so we could clearly analyze what was needed to fix the problem with the swim deck. It's going to take a redesign of the deck which will include shortening it and possibly putting a sheet of stainless beneath it that will extend from the hull to the end of the swim deck.
At this point the new KVH Satellite TV system is installed and working. It and the radar have been mounted on a stand that puts the radar ahead of and below the Sat Dome. The upper bimini is installed, the aft bimini that will cover the cockpit is being built and will be installed this week.
Here's what she looks like with the upper bimini installed and the screens on. That front screen has some stains so I'm having a new one made to replace it.
At this point we don't have a time frame to the next sea trail. They will haul the boat out today and it could be several days before they get the swim deck redesigned.
While I was disapointed and frustrated about it not being done on schedule I told the yard manager I'd much rather have it fixred right than have it fixed on schedule.
